MAC and Walmart finds!

We had a movie night lastnight for the kids. So in last minute preparations I headed out to Walmart to get a few snacks for the kids and their friends to enjoy. Of course, I cruised down the polish aisle and saw a few new Nicole by OPI colors - Shoot for The Maroon, Best Pink Ever and Fabulous is My Middle Name. I also saw a picked over display for the Sally Hansen Gem Crush polishes. From the Gem Crushes, I got 3 of the remaining 6 they had because the 3 I left looked exactly like China Glaze's Love Marilyn, Lorelei's Tiara and OPI's Gone Gonzo. Atleast from what I could tell. I don't like to swatch things in the store, especially if I have no intention of purchasing them. But they were $6.24 each and at that price, to be honest, I'm not going to buy them just to compare and find out they're dupes. Sorry. So I ended up with Be-Jeweled, Big Money and Lady Luck.

I also ended up only getting Shoot for the Maroon from Nicole. I almost got Fabulous is my middle name because it's a bar glitter. But I ended up leaving it because of the same reason. I'm not much into the bar glitters. I love how they look in the bottle and then when I wear them, not so much. I might go back for that one and the Best Pink Ever some other day. But for now, I left them. So here is what I got.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush Be-Jeweled, Lady Luck, Big Money

As far as I could tell in the store, I didn't have any dupes of these. Of course now, I think SH Be-Jeweled might be a dupe for Wet N Wild's It's All In The Cut from the Ice Baby Collection. I did not pick that one up, so I can't say for sure. But what I can say for sure is that Shoot for the Maroon is very, very close to OPI's Tease-y Does It from the Burlesque Collection. I'd go so far as to say that the only difference between the two is the amount of glass flecks in them. Shoot for the Maroon seems to be more concentrated than Tease-y Does It. But the base colors and shimmer colors look the same to me. I actually may go pick up another bottle of Shoot For The Maroon simply because I think it's prettier than Tease-y Does It based on the shimmer factor alone. Here's a comparison:

Bottle Comparisons

Shoot For The Maroon, Tease-y Does It, Shoot For The Maroon, Tease-y Does It

Quick Video

Now from MAC, here's a few items that are upcoming in the Naturally and Iris Apfel Collections due to be released next week :)

A Perfect Day, Flamingo, Pillow Talk, Party Parrot, Sweet Sunrise

Early Morning

Some swatches of the lipsticks. I also did some comparisons on items that I thought looked somewhat similar in my own stash.

Out in direct sunlight from L-R: Flamingo, Sweet Sunrise, Pillow Talk, A Perfect Day, Party Parrot

Cut A Caper, Flamingo, Ever Hip, Jazzed

Nars Barbarella, MAC Ever Hip, MAC Cut A Caper, MAC Flamingo

Mac Hibiscus on top and MAC Party Parrot underneath

It seems Flamingo is pinker than the other similar lipsticks I own. Pinker and a bit brighter. It's definitely my favorite from the Iris Apfel lipsticks! Party Parrot is unlike anything I own. Mainly because I don't normally buy colors like it. But it seemed like a fun pink to start with. I'm more of a coral girl. So, this should be a nice gateway pink for me. Sweet Sunrise looks like death on my NC40 face and Pillow Talk is a lot more brown than I thought it would be. But blended out a bit, it took on a more rosy color. A Perfect Day is pretty much beautiful. Overall, I think I might even go back for Scarlet Ibis and another Flamingo. But even if not, these two collections have some items that looked really great imo.

Well, that's it from me for today! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you're all doing well and having a great day!

Tiny Fyrinnae haul and swatches!

It's been almost exactly 1 year now that I've been using Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy and I have to say, I absolutely LOVE it! So naturally, now that I needed another tube of it, I placed an order and decided to try a few of their shadows. I only ordered 3 samples (they were only $2 each) and they sent me a 4th for free! I like loose eyeshadows, I've been using MAC pigments for almost 7 years now. So.....yeah, I'm a fan of the loose ones :p

Get your mind out of the gutter!!!

But honestly, if you're a fan of the loose eyeshadows, these do not disappoint. They're highly pigmented and so beautiful! I had to show them to you guys. First of all, I ordered the full sized Pixie Epoxy and samples of Snow Leopard, Moon Child and Wake Not The Dead. The free sample they included in my order was Purgatory.

Moon Child (top left), Snow Leopard (top right), Wake Not the Dead (bottom left), Purgatory (bottom right)

The following swatches were taken without flash, in different lighting and over Fyrinnae's own Pixie Epoxy.

Outside in full sunlight

In the shade

Indoors

Here's a short video of the actual eyeshadows in their jars and my attempt at showing you the swatches. I do apologize for the crap swatches here. It's because of the poor quality that I decided to film them outside.

And this is the video outside where the lighting is so much better and you can see the depth and beauty of these eyeshadows so much easier!

Moon Child is the light golden peachy ivory color. Snow Leopard is the taupe color. Wake Not the Dead is the purple color with the multi colored glitter and Purgatory is the blackened red. Aren't they beautiful? I'm already wanting to place a huge order for more eyeshadows! Also, Wake Not the Dead and Purgatory are new colors from their Halloween Collection this year but they are not limited edition. So if you can't place an order right now, don't worry. Their items are very well priced and shipping is pretty inexpensive as well, you can't help but be blown away by the quality!

Well, that's it from me for today. I hope you're all having a wonderful, fun and safe weekend!

Haul and swatches!

Ebay haul and some swatches. :)

Epic Winning and Ulta Exclusives Shimmer Into Summer

Today I have a bit of a peek at the OPI Ulta Exclusives for the Summer collection, Shimmer Into Summer. I say peek, because I didn't buy them all. I only bought one of the 4.

I do however, have some craptacular cell phone pics for you! So let's start with that :)

The Display

My thoughts: While I do think they're very pretty, they look very familiar to me. Sort of like a Deja Vu of the Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl collection. Am I right??? Now, I actually skipped on all of the Gossip Girl collection because I only wanted Too Rich For You and it was gone by the time I got to my Ulta.

So this was sort of a chance for me to get it, in OPI bottle form. Now, are these exact dupes to the Gossip Girl collection? I honestly can't tell you yes or no with any certainty. But I think they're very similar if not the same.

So of course, I got 2 other things while there today. Here are some better pictures now of How You Blue-in? along with I Lily Love You and Essence Irreplaceable.

From L-R: I Lily Love You, Irreplaceable and How You Blue-in?

Quick comparison, the only thing I have similar to How You Blue-in in my stash is China Glaze's Blk-Bila-Bong. But they're not really that similar.

And look at how beautiful I Lily Love You is close up. You can click this to make it huge cause I didn't shrink it very much!
Last thing! My NOTD is Icing's Epic winning over American Apparel Hassid. I did 2 coats of the glitter over 1 coat of the black.

In the shade

Direct sunlight

Video! So you can see the holo and blue sparklies!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you're all having a lovely evening!

So I'm being lazy today!

Why so lazy? Because I want to show you guys some stuff, to include the new Tarte for True Blood Palette. But I don't want to change the watermarks on the photos. So, I guess now you will know my super secret MUA username :p I hope you don't mind, I just know that if I don't post them with these watermarks, I probably won't get around to doing it.

The Tarte for True Blood palette, the Tokidoki Devil Girl palette and the free birthday gift :)



The card in the back of the palette inside the packaging is a booklet.

The Front

The inside has look ideas:

and the back has all the information:

This is the outside. I thought it would be drawn on, but it's actual eyelets with elasticy bands in between. It's pretty, actually!


When you open the drawer that says 'Open After Dark', there is an eyeliner, an eye primer and a mascara inside.

The eyeshadows:


With the plastic insert on top of them, you can see their names:


Now swatches. I took these in different lights without flash so that you can get a good idea of what they look like. I also swatched with a brush and without any primer. So this is on my bare arm! I'm NC40 for reference.

Lightbox
from L-R: The Light, Fairy, Dusk, Dawn


As you can see, The Light and Fairy are very very pale colors. You can barely see them on my skin. I think a good primer and they will be good to go on the eyes. They'd make nice highlight colors imo.

Dusk is a very light caramel brown color. Dawn is a pale gold color. It's very shimmery although it didn't translate well in my pictures.

Lightbox
from L-R: Werewolf, Waitress, Nocturnal, Charmer

Of these, Nocturnal is misspelled on my plastic insert, it's spelled 'Noctural'. LOL But it's probably the most unique color in the palette. It's packed with blue glitter and gorgeous.

Werewolf is a matte brown, Waitress is a very glittery, very golden light brown. It turned just plain gold on my skin. The texture on this reminds me of a soft MAC lustre. Not as chunky as say Honeylust or the old Kitschmas formula. I'm sure it'll look pretty foiled, but not too fond of it. Charmer is a pretty pinky peachy copper color. Very pretty and very shimmery as well.

Lightbox
from L-R: Glamour Me, Stake, Bayou, Telepath, The True Death

Of these, Stake is probably my favorite. It's a very pretty matte grey. Telepath sort of reminds me of UD Grifter. I got rid of it a few years ago so I can't compare, but from what I remember of Grifter, this makes me think of it. Very glittery, too. Bayou is a gorgeous gold color. Very smooth and the True Death is one of the most pigmented pressed silver eyeshadows I've ever swatched. Seriously. I couldn't believe how silver it looked on my skin when I first swatched it. It reminds me of the Kryolan Aquacolor Silver. The only difference being that this is dry and the Aquacolor had to be wet to be applied.

Lightbox
from L-R:The True Death, Immortal, Moss, Legend, "V"

Moss and "V" are the standouts in this group. Moss has to be my favorite color in this palette. I am a huge green fan, so I am biased. But this green is just so beautiful, I'd buy the palette again just for this. Immortal is just a black with silver glitter and Legend is a matte charcoaley black. Nothing too special.

Overall, despite the different finishes and textures in this palette, they all have a couple of things in common.

1.) They're highly pigmented.
2.) They're very powdery. I guess they're finely milled?

I can't really describe what I mean, but I can show you what I mean.


Lots of powder 'fall out' I guess you could call it. It accumulates around the brush and in the pan. I can imagine fall out would be a definite when applying these eyeshadows as there was tons of it while I was swatching. But overall, I like the palette. I'm happy with the color range. There are some colors I can't see myself using, but for the most part, this will be something I can use and enjoy.

Now, the Tokidoki Palette. I haven't swatched it yet. I just think it's the cutest thing!

Now, how about some swatches of MAC's Hocus Pocus? Jealousy Wakes? I guess so, since I'm being lazy and all! :p

Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus surrounded by Smoke & Diamonds, Copperplate, Surf USA and Groundcover.From L-R: Groundcover, Copperplate, Hocus Pocus, Smoke & Diamonds and R&R Nailed over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy.

Jealousy Wakes
(Haha, my LJ name! Now you know me everywhere :p)

This looks more blue in the pot than expected. This is the most color accurate photo.
It even swatches more blue than green. But on the eyes, it's more green :D

And last for the day, Make Up Store, anyone? I have none near me, but they do have free shipping on orders over $50! I phone ordered from the store in Colorado. It was awesome! The customer service was awesome and they shipped one day after I ordered! Can't really ask for anything else imo.

From L-R: Alma, Britta, Greta, Madeleine, Siw and the Aqua Fix base

Well, that is it from me for today! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the pics and swatches and have a great evening!